355 replies to this topic 6 votes

[GP007]

Anthonyd, on 30 April 2012 - 18:44, said:

I don't see why they should rewamp it totally. Power user will complains about it because they won't find the settings back where they are used to and newb won't even try to find them.

There are always some minor improvements here & there. Windows 8 has new settings inside the device manager (event history) for example.

With the action center, the network center and the device center, I don't see what else they can do. What do you want to see improved?

Since you bring it up here's my example. Using the network center as an example, if you open it up a number of the different settings are stored inside it's window while some other things toss up an old dialog window that's been around since Windows 98. Since they've already started to put most things into the main window why just stop and leave things out in their own dialog windows/boxes etc? Like when you click on Local Area connection in the Network Center and you get the old dialog box that's more or less the same that it's been for 10+ years? Why shouldn't that info just be put inside the main Network Center window like other things have, like for example Windows Firewall, that's been placed inside the main window and no longer brings up it's own separate dialog window.

Another example is what they're doing in office, most if not all of the different office options/settings appear inside the main office apps window, they don't bring up another window/box or w/e. In contrast we still have something like Internet Explorer that's been using the same old Internet Options dialog since IE5, if not older. I just think that the desktop CP should contain all of the different settings areas inside it's main Window, which is the same main window that Network Center and Device Center etc show up in, look at the address bar and you can see the path listed. I believe it's time to ditch the old dialog boxes that have been around since the 90s.

[bogas04]

Quote

All Aero bugs fixed on latest builds, now only AeroLite looks like unfinished, we will see it in later pics

now vs WCP (just in case you wanna see the difference)



Originally Posted by eze310
canouna, I wanted to ask if the new messenger (beta) change the interface because the latter turned out to not be as good at least in my opinion,thanks anyway


Yes UI changed, better than the previous release.

Keep following http://winunleakedfo...-Preview/page28 for more news and please post them here to keep the Neowin forums up to date (at least)

/no i am not promoting that site but the info it contains

[Anthonyd]

GP007, on 01 May 2012 - 07:05, said:

Since you bring it up here's my example. Using the network center as an example, if you open it up a number of the different settings are stored inside it's window while some other things toss up an old dialog window that's been around since Windows 98. Since they've already started to put most things into the main window why just stop and leave things out in their own dialog windows/boxes etc? Like when you click on Local Area connection in the Network Center and you get the old dialog box that's more or less the same that it's been for 10+ years? Why shouldn't that info just be put inside the main Network Center window like other things have, like for example Windows Firewall, that's been placed inside the main window and no longer brings up it's own separate dialog window.

I don't see what's wrong with the current UI. They are working fine for 10+ years, don't break what is working fine just for the sake of "let's change it".
If you go to the network center, you have at a glance all the infos that newbs needs. And with 1 or 2 clicks, you have the advanced infos for power user, nothing is wrong here. There's no need to overload the UI.

GP007, on 01 May 2012 - 07:05, said:

Another example is what they're doing in office, most if not all of the different office options/settings appear inside the main office apps window, they don't bring up another window/box or w/e. In contrast we still have something like Internet Explorer that's been using the same old Internet Options dialog since IE5, if not older. I just think that the desktop CP should contain all of the different settings areas inside it's main Window, which is the same main window that Network Center and Device Center etc show up in, look at the address bar and you can see the path listed. I believe it's time to ditch the old dialog boxes that have been around since the 90s.

Applications != OS. We aren't debating about IE vs Office UI here.

[CSharp.]

The control panel is a mess in my opinion. You can usually get to what you're looking for with a bit of searching and looking and running across options by accident, and after having used it for so long you basically know where things are anyway. But it's not completely logically organized and its hierarchical structure isn't very well thought out at all. Take this screenshot as an example:




In some cases, the blue links simply take me to the very same place that clicking on the category header they're listed under does, in some cases they act as a shortcut for performing an operation that would be accessible from there, and in some cases they take me to options that are not accessible at all if you first clicked on the category header. Then, on the left side bar you can switch between different categories one level up, yet when you click on e.g. "Display", the left side bar starts to list options for that control panel pane there (that may or may not have already been listed one level up, below the category header)?! It all seems very disorganized to me...

[Anthonyd]

That's why you have to use the search through the start menu/screen if you don't know what you are looking for

[Subhadip]

I rarely open the Control Panel for years, I simply use the Search. And with Windows 8 that got a whole lot better.

[freak180]

Years? I highly doubt that.

[.Neo]

Dot Matrix, on 30 April 2012 - 10:45, said:

I can see the pixels in my Windows 7 curosrs too... No biggie.

Jub Fequois, on 30 April 2012 - 11:06, said:

Don't forget that some cursors have gradients while some don't.

It just shows that Microsoft still doesn't pay much, if any at all, attention to detail or consistency for that matter.

[floopydoodle]

sanke1, on 30 April 2012 - 11:10, said:

The new cursors look pathetic. I didn't like them.

Though I would've loved the circular dots animation at windows startup to be used in cursors.

I agree. The dots animation is really beautiful. Something I wouldn't mind staring at.
There's so much inconsistency between the desktop UI and metro. The boot loading animation is different from the loading cursor, the buttons are different, so are the scroll bars, thr icon style etc...

[.Neo]

Mephistopheles, on 30 April 2012 - 10:36, said:

The revised Aero with the Watercolor-style widgets would look much better if the title bar weren't quite as tall. As it is the proportions between title bar and rest of the GUI are out of whack.

Agreed. The Aero titlebar is disproportionally large compared to the rest of the interface elements.

[bogas04]

Well it was needed , good they are kinda ready with it for RC. I guess by the time RTM comes most of the people would be familiar with it.

[Buendia]

New screenshot featuring "new icon for Windows Update, Add features, and new style for Windows Color"

[Dot Matrix]

This new AERO revision looks great! Soft, sharp, and clean, just like a UI should be!

[GP007]

Buendia, on 05 May 2012 - 16:59, said:

New screenshot featuring "new icon for Windows Update, Add features, and new style for Windows Color"

One thing I do think would help overall is with the title bar size, if those could take up less space it'd look overall better IMO.

[theyarecomingforyou]

CJEric, on 01 May 2012 - 10:30, said:

The control panel is a mess in my opinion. You can usually get to what you're looking for with a bit of searching and looking and running across options by accident, and after having used it for so long you basically know where things are anyway. But it's not completely logically organized and its hierarchical structure isn't very well thought out at all.

I completely agree. I was never a fan of the modern Control Panel since it was introduced in Vista and it's a shame to see remain virtually unchanged in yet another version of Windows. One of the biggest problems is that it's not consistent - some functions will open up in the same window, while others will launch separate windows in different locations on the screen (e.g. click 'Taskbar', 'Change sound effects' or 'Folder Options'). Not only that but it's basically a wall of text with a few small and unhelpful icons to the left. There is also a lot of duplication.

When Microsoft decided to port a lot of Control Panel functionality to Metro they should have also taken a serious look at the Control Panel. One option would have been to move the Control Panel completely to Metro - for the desktop they could have gone for a side-snapped app with conventional sized text and images, while for Metro they could have gone for the full-sized approach see in More PC Settings. I still think it was a mistake to not allow Metro apps to co-exist with regular windows (so they could scale down, yet still keep the same dimensions), which would have been especially beneficial for high resolution displays. I have a 2560x1600 display and I hate what they've done to Solitaire, as it simply cannot co-exist with other apps (the side-snapped mode is horrible). Microsoft has put a lot of work into Metro but I just don't see full-sized Metro apps being used much on desktop systems - although I quite often use side-snapped apps I rarely ever use any fullscreen and most have a decided lack of content, largely due to the design constraints associated with supporting low resolution displays and touch.